The little gerber viewer that could!
Of course I’m talking about gerbv! For those of you who don’t know, gerbv is a free Gerber or RS-274X viewer that comes from the gEDA Project. It’s free, it’s open source, it’s cross platform… (quick link to windows version download here) and that’s awesome.
![](wp-content/uploads/2012/08/gerbv1.png)
So, why do you care? Well, if you are building your own circuits and want to get a PCB made then usually the format you’ll need to export your design into is a gerber. The reason you should grab gerbv is to double check for errors. When you design a PCB in your favorite circuit layout tool, whether it be Eagle, Altium, or my favorite DipTrace, you should double check for errors.